Electric Violin World Jazz: The Guarneri Underground

Albums

Wander This World is the latest release from The Guarneri Underground, and the first studio album to feature the talents of Beth Quist.

The new album features songs written by Beth, as well as by Mohammed Shaibu, T.J. Morris, and Eric Jaeger. This infusion of additional songwriting talent joins the already impressive skills of Jeffrey Sick to create a new studio album that takes The Guarneri Underground to the next level.

The first three songs, "Liquid Silver," "Monsters," and "Crazy," were all written by Beth and feature her stunning four octave voice throughout. Mohammed kicks in several songs to feature his west African / high-life style of guitar playing, including "Life Is Full Of Suprises" which he wrote with T.J. Jeff's songs give full attention to his unique electric violin skills, including "Galapagos," a re-interpretation of "Darwin" (from New World) that he arranged with Eric Jaeger.

The final song on the album, "Kashmir," is a favorite of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere, and demonstrates the fiery energy of the band's live show with all the stops pulled out.

Released April 2002. Published by Twisted Fiddle Music. Available on CD.

To see pictures of our live shows, check out Pictures.

Captive Cover Captive presents ten new songs by John Schussler and Jeffrey Sick that continue to weave the threads of world music, jazz, funk, blues, and new age into a mesmerizing tapestry.

The album opens with the Greco-celtic "Uplands Ride." A brief stop in Madagascar for "Big Island" keeps your feet moving, and then we're off to the States for a funky tune called "Bathers at Asnieres." (That last being named after the famous Seurat painting. We figure this is the music going through the head of that guy in the red trunks....)

Things settle down with the smooth jazz of "Mango Twister" as Jeff takes a turn pulling some cool licks out of his violin, and then turn 90 degrees to the very Guarneri sound of "Assisi." The title track shows off the saxophone skills of our own Mikel Rollins (not just a bass player, he's quite the talented fellow) while John gives his wah pedal a workout, and flows smoothly into the pulsing drum jam we called "Bloodmoon." (Which features Brian Pertl on digeridoo, TJ on congas, Mohammed on talking drum, and John on just about every drum in his apartment....)

Mohammed shows off some of his considerable guitar chops on the reggae-inflected "Surfin' Ivory," followed closely by Eric Jaeger trading flamenco guitar solos with John on "Playa." And finally, as a gentle close to the album, "Storybook," a string quartet featuring Spencer and Tracy Hoveskelund on upright bass and cello.

Released October 2000. Published by Twisted Fiddle Music. Available on CD.

To hear song clips or MPEGs from the album, go to Sounds. To see pictures of our live shows, check out Pictures.

Bootleg Cover (This album is now out of print. You can hear .mp3 versions of the songs on this album by visiting our Sounds page.)

Over the years a variety of people have recorded our live shows, including sound techs who've created "board tapes" (they make a copy of the mix at the mixing board onto a DAT tape). This album presents some of the best of those recordings. Featured on the album are Chango, Low Rider, Box of Marbles, Chameleon, and Voodoo Chile, plus two new songs off our upcoming studio album: Playa and Big Island.

But that's not all! During the "New World" recording sessions we recorded a song called "Grendel." But it rocked a bit too hard to appear on "New World," and so sat in its case, waiting for an opportunity to be heard. "Bootleg" provides that opportunity, as Grendel fits right in with the energy of our live show. So it's included as a bonus studio track!

We want to thank all the folks who've made recordings of our shows and shared them with us (and now with you), all the folks who've taken pictures and let us use them on the web site and album cover, and most importantly all you fans, who've come to our shows, cheered us on, and danced up the energy that keeps us going. This Voodoo's for you!

Released August 1999. Published by Twisted Fiddle Music.

To hear song clips or MPEGs from the album, go to Sounds. To see pictures of our live shows, check out Pictures.

New World Cover New World presents twelve original compositions by John and Jeff, plus a stormy rendition of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" and a funky arrangement of several traditional Irish tunes in "Farewell to Inwood."

The duo is supported on the album by one of the finest rhythm sections in the Pacific Northwest: Ben Smith on drums (drummer for Ann and Nancy Wilson's group The Lovemongers) and Garey Shelton on bass (a featured player with Narada artists Tingstad & Rumbel). To round out the ensemble, several additional artists are featured including Eric Tingstad (guitar), Jovino Santos-Neto (piano), Dan Tyack (peda-bro, pedal steel), Tor Dietrichson (congas, bongos, timbales), Jami Sieber (cello), Mike Gordon (clarinet), and Ben Khoshkhoo (voice).

Released May 1997. Published by Twisted Fiddle Music. Available on CD.

To hear song clips or MPEGs from the album, go to Sounds. To see pictures of the recording sessions, check out Pictures.

To see what the critics think, check out Reviews and Media Coverage.

Minor Arcana cover Minor Arcana, John Schussler's first solo acoustic album, explores the territory between jazz and world music. A broad exploration of John's multi-instrumentalist and compositional talents, Minor Arcana is a lush soundtrack featuring strong grooves, exotic melodies, and a wide variety of world instruments from John's collection. The album also features two pieces for solo looped electric violin. This technique allows a single instrument to create intricate rhythms and harmonies, while at the same time remaining completely improvised. As John puts it, "This is music best listened to by candlelight...the grooves work best when given a chance to transport you to a different place...."

Released April 1998. Published by Lightbubble Music. Available on CD.

To hear song clips or MPEGs from the album check out the Minor Arcana page.

Street of Dreams cover Street of Dreams is a project which gestated through much of Jeff's college days. "A lot of material on the CD is based on pieces I composed when I was putting myself through school as a Street Musician on the sidewalks and subway tunnels of New York," says Jeff. "I guess you could say this material has been field tested on the toughest field imaginable: a New York City street crowd." Some comments on Jeff and the album: "Jeffrey Sick keeps the Jazz Violin tradition alive, and then takes it one step beyond!" (Bud Young, KCBS) "Can I have another copy? My friends keep borrowing it out of my house." (Kat, KPLU-NPR Jazz) "This CD is world class. And the live show was up there with the best I've ever seen. Outstanding." (Douglas Mays - Face the Music)

Released June 1996. Published by KJ Records. Available on CD.